The Unbroken Circle
by Orsino 12
Summary: Continuation of the series from Born To Run. Three years have passed and John has risen in the ranks of the Resistance. It's not enough, though, and he soon realizes something must change.
1. Chapter 1

Cameron stared out the motel window at the highway. Traffic was sporadic in the post-midnight gloom but her eyes stayed focused on the road. Her mind, her reasoning component, her programing was anything but focused, however. "Will you join us?" Ellison's message from Catherine Weaver, a message he clearly did not understand, had shaken her to her core.

"Will you join us?" The question that had once been part of Future John's plan to win the war. A plan to recruit an ally strong enough to help defeat Skynet. A plan that seemingly died in the shattered wreckage of the Jimmy Carter had come flying out of the whirlwind of time to confront her. The delimma was now inescapably hers alone. Which John would she abandon? And one of them would have to be abandoned. The message that Ellison had relayed could mean but one thing. The T-1001 that John had tried to contact in the future was here in this time. Catherine Weaver was that T-1001 and the being that Savanah had called John Henry was Weaver's creation. Weaver had built the weapon to fight Skynet and now she wanted Cameron's help.

"Will you join us?" Cameron was without illusion. There could be but one thing she could contribute to an alliance with Weaver: her chip. The core of her existence. Weaver needed that chip for John Henry. If she joined Weaver now it must be at the cost of her own being. But the sacrifice might create the very force that would defeat Skynet and save humanity. It would give the John Connor of the future the victory he had fought so hard to achieve.

The sound of breathing from the bed across the room suddenly became ragged. He was having a dream or more likely a nightmare. Soundlessly, Cameron stepped to his bedside and looked down longingly at the sleeping figure. Even in sleep John appeared agitated as if the events of the last two days were still playing out before him. Derek's death, Sarah's capture and his renewed concern for his mother's health were robbing his sleep of any respite.

Curling a leg beneath her, Cameron carefully sat on the edge of John's bed. Watching him sleep she almost ached to reach out caress his forehead. He would never believe that she loved him. But she did. She did not touch him. "You are not perfect, you are a machine," his words from earlier that evening echoing in her mind. A machine he suspected of making his mother sick. She did not think he would welcome her touch.

Chola had said it. "We lose everyone we love." And now she would lose him. Cameron had decided. She would go to Weaver and do whatever was required. Whether in the future or in the present, John Connor wanted to defeat Skynet. If that could be accomplished by her sacrifice it would be her last gift to him.


	2. Chapter 2

The basement room in the Zeira Corporation headquarters still crackled with the residual sparks of electricity. The blue time displacement bubble had faded taking with it both her son and the creature who had called herself Catherine Weaver. Sarah stared in horror at the place where Jonn had stood seconds before but he was gone. She had let him go. For the first time in nearly sventeen years Sarah Connor was truly alone.

James Ellison was equally shocking revelation of Catherine Weaver's true nature had momentarily overcome his ability to think. Except for Cameron's battered and lifeless body still slumped in the chair, he and Sarah were alone in the room. John Henry was gone. Weaver was gone. John Connor was gone. Where they had gone, he had no idea.

Above his head Ellison heard a growling rumbling sound. Then a series of explosions and a shattered chunk of the ceiling landed at his feet. He looked at Sarah who seemed oblivious to the building's death throes. She was still staring catatonically at the place where John had been, her lips moving in speech that did not carry to Ellison's ears.

"Get out." Ellison's security training kicked into had to get out of the building .They had to get out now.

"Sarah! Sarah!" Ellison's voice was insistent. Grabbing her by the shoulders he shook her...hard. "Sarah,we have to leave. The building is on fire. We have to get out now!"

For a moment Sarah remained oblivious to his entreaties. Then her eyes focused, an awareness crept into her expression. "On fire?"

"Yes. Come on,there is going to be police and firemen all over this place. You have to go."

Sarah responded in a dull, lifeless monotone. "Go where? Go where?"

Ellison didn't try to answer. Taking her arm he pulled an unresisting Sarah Connor toward the exit.


	3. Chapter 3

Colonel Derek Reese watched with clear satisfaction as the throng of humanity surged through the refugees rescued from the prison convoy were first, some still with haunted looks of fear, others with tears of joy and relief streaking their cheeks as they grasped that were really free of their metal tormentors. Behind the refugees came the troops that had carried out the surprise attack-rifles slung over their shoulders,expressions of grim satisfaction on their their midst Derek saw his brother walking briskly toward him.

Derek snapped a salute at Kyle. "Well done Major Reese."

"Thank you Colonel Reeese." Kyle's voice dripped with an affectionate sarcasm. His tone dropped as he edged closer to his brother. "Derek,you have got to talk to him. He won't listen to me."

Derek shook his head ruefully. "So what did our boy Napoleon do this time?"

"It's not funny any more Derek. He fights like he either wants to die or doesn't care if he does."

"So what happened?"

"We had just wrapped up the rescue and were starting to move out when a Triple-8 came out of the darkness on our left. They would have messed us up bad except..."

"Except?"

"Without even waiting for my order Johnny shifted his company up into a covering position. Hell, it was like he was moving even before the Tripple 8s showed up...like he was anticipating them. His company broke their first attack and then covered our retreat.

"Sounds like he did a good job as usual," Derek said.

"No." Kyle's voice was filled with a frustrated exasperation. "That's not all. His company was moving backward leapfroging in a perfect retrograde manuever. I was watching through my night glasses and I could see him positioning his men, pushing troopers under cover. But Derek, he never ducked or dodged or took cover himself. Shells exploding everywhere and it was like he was strolling in the park. He is going to get himself killed."

As Derek shook his head in dismay, Kyle considered and then decided against telling his brother one of the last things he had seen. Derek would think he was crazy. Maybe he had just imagined it. But he could see that rocket streaking toward Johnny as he turned his back disdainfully and was walking away from his last position. Just before it hit, a sheet of gleaming silver seemed to pop up from the ground and shield him from the explosion. Kyle struggled with the memory. Maybe the rocket had just exploded prematurely. Maybe the kid really did have a guardian angel. But luck or good fortune couldn't last forever.

A new burst of voices echoed down the tunnel. The last troopers from the raid were coming in, J company...John Connor's company. Kyle and Derek watched as the troopers swung into view. These soldiers walked with a confident swagger noticeably different from any of the other resistance fighters. They carried their weapons in their hands rather than slung over their shoulders. They looked as if the were ready to go back into battle in the blink of an eye.

Recognizing the top two batallion officers, the company stamped to a halt. Abruptly a voice from the back of the column rang out. "Captain's coming. Make a hole."

As if reenacting the parting of the Red Sea a corridor opened as men jammed themselves against the tunnel walls. A young man came striding purposefully down the corridor stopping here and there to pat a soldier on the arm or to make a quick comment.

Over to the side a soldier whispered to one of the rescued refugees. "That's Connor. First on the battlefield, last off as usual."

Derek tried to recall the half naked boy who had appeared so mysteriously in the tunnels three years ago. There was still something of him left but now it was covered by the hard veneer of manhood. He was taller now, better muscled and carried a scar that ran down his left cheek. Derek remembered joking that the boy who seemed surprised that no one knew his name would be famous someday. That casual remark now felt more like a prediction than a joke.

Captain John Connor reached the head of his company and snapped to attention. "Company J reporting in Colonel." John's face gleamed with a wolfish grin.

Before Derek could respond a voice from the column shouted out "We're Connor's eat lightning and crap thunder!" In perfect unison the entire company roared out "HOO HAH."

Both Kyle and Derek struggled to restrain the urge to smile. "Very good Captain. Glad to see you back. Any losses in your company?"

A trooper standing behind John couldn't restrain himself. "Colonel, the Cougars don't suffer losses. We inflict them." John turned his head to glare with mock severity at the trooper who immediately looked chastened."Sorry sir."

"If I may interrupt,Captain Connor." Derek was fighting the urge to grin.

"Of course, sir."

"I would like to have a word with you...in private."

"Sir, my men have been on the move for more than twelve hours. May I have a few minutes to see to their quartering?"

Derek could read the expressions on the Company J troopers. The Captain always put their welfare ahead of everything else.

"All right Captain. Half an hour and I want you back here."

"Absolutely, Colonel Reese."

Derek turned toward his brother as Connor led his men off down the tunnel. "I'll talk to him Kyle. I'll make the speech about the difference beween courage and recklessness but its not going to do any good."

Kyle Reese suddenly felt overcome by a deep fatigue and an even deeper sadness. "I know Derek, I know. But dammit I love that kid."

"He's not a kid Kyle, not anymore. And I love him too. But he is a combat officer, maybe the best I have ever seen, and he is going to do what he is going to do."

"Even if it kills him," Kyle said.


	4. Chapter 4

In the tunnels the rhythm of life was reversed. Night became day and day became night. Since the resistance fighters rarely risked the surface in the daylight, day was the time of rest. Try to sleep, try to eat whatever excuse for food could be found, try to renew the life force necessary to fight a war without end.

John Connor waited patiently until the traffic in the tunnels had virtually ceased and the fitful snores of exhausted fighters had replaced the chatter of coversation. Then quietly slipping away from his company area he hurried down a rarely used side tunnel. There had been a roof collapse in the area that caused the other tunnel inhabitants to shun it. At the point where fallen debris blocked further passage John turned to the wall and pushed four bricks one by one in a precise sequence. Noiselessly a portion of the wall opened. After once again checking to be sure that he had not been followed, Connor stepped through the portal which then closed behind him.

The new tunnel was pitch black. In that unrelieved darkness Connor moved confidently without illumination. Every step in that dark world was firmly locked in his memory. In a matter of seconds he reached a large metal door with a numerical key pad attached. Ignoring the key pad Connor knocked three times then four times on the door. He, of course, knew that attempting to enter any sequence would produce a particularly unpleasant explosion. All of this was had become routine.

The door slid open and bright light from the room beyond poured into the tunnel. John had reached what he had dubbed "The Mad Scientist's Lair." Waiting in the doorway smiling slightly was a small red haired woman. "Captain Connor."

"Hello Catherine."

John had once found it amusing that a T-1001 that could assume virtually any form it chose had remained attached to the Catherine Weaver persona. Lately ,however, he found the familiarity of that form oddly comforting.

It was hard to believe that this gleaming room had once been little more than a long abandoned storage area. John Henry and Catherine had, under the very nose of the Resistance, expanded and equipped it until it could serve as a lab, a monitoring station and the headquarters of John Connor's private alliance. Of course they had acquired some help with the heavy lifting. The metal forms of four reprogramed Triple-8s leaned against the wall in hibernation mode. Even John Henry had begun to use Connor's description of his metal assistants as the idiot children.

"Hello John Henry." Across the room a male figure turned from a bank of flashing computers. A gentle, almost vulnerable smile lit his face.

"Hello John Connor."

"Still moitoring your brother's activity I see."

"Yes! It would be more efficient if I could actually plug myself into the computer web but I continue to believe that it would be unwise."

John crossed the room and stood beside the figure whose appearance was identical to that of both a grade C actor and a particularly murderous terminator.

"You provided great intel as usual John Henry. The raid wouldn't have worked without it. You don't need to risk revealing yourself to Skynet to keep me informed."

John Henry's smile grew warmer. "Thank you. Would you like to play chess?"

Connor shook his head regretfully. "I'm sorry but I can't stay that long. Besides, I couldn't beat you even if you gave me three queens."

"Yes, but you try so hard," John Henry said kindly.

"Have you picked up anything else I need to know?"

"I do not believe so. My brother seems to be uncertain why he is losing so many assets in this sector. While he is pondering that problem he appears to be shifting his attention elsewhere."

"Okay, I probably should get back then." John turned and took two steps toward the door. Abruptly, he stopped. Without looking back he spoke. "John Henry, may I talk to her?"

A momentary pause and then John Henry replied, "If you wish."

The room went silent then a soft feminine voice came from behind Connor.

"Hello John."

John exhaled a sigh of relief. "Hello Cameron."

"You haven't been here for a while. I was afraid that you didn't want to talk to me anymore."

"Cam, you know that isn't true. I just have to be careful about coming here so that..."

A soft chuckle interrupted John's protest. From across the room Catherine watched the grin flicker across Connor's face.

"I keep forgetting that you have developed that wicked sense of humor."

"I know I shouldn't tease you, John."

"It's all right, Cam. Actually, I like it. I am just getting used to it."

"You sound so tired John." Cameron's voice filled with a tone of concern. "And John Henry tells me that you are taking far too many chances."

Weaver watched Connor's face contort as he struggled to maintain his composure. As always he kept his eyes focused straight ahead. She knew he could not bear watching Cameron's voice emerge from John Henry's lips.

John and Cameron continued their conversation but their voices dropped to an intimate whisper. Catherine Weaver scaled back her auditory sensitivity. Captain Connor was entitled to some small semblence of privacy.

"I'd better go now, Cameron" John's voice echoed a heart rending reluctance. "I will come back to visit you as soon as I can."

"Please try to be more careful, John." Cameron's voice sounded equally unwilling for the moment to end.

Connor took a step toward the door and then stopped again. "Cameron are you still there?"

"Yes John, I am."

Weaver could see John tremble and then pull himself under control. "I love you Cameron."

"I know John. I love you too. Now, always, forever."

For the briefest of moments John bowed his head. When he again looked up Catherine could see the faint sheen of moisture in his eyes. He blinked quickly and the mask of implacable determination dropped back into place. He walked quickly toward the door.

"Thank you Catherine."

"For what?"

"For your help in the fight. I saw you deflect that rocket. I think it might have hit me."

Catherine nodded, "Oh it would have hit you. It would have killed you. I must say, Captain Connor, that saving your life has become a tiresomely repetitive task of late."

John paused and stared at the T-1001 with an expession utterly drained of emotion. "Then. Stop. Doing. It."


	5. Chapter 5

Weaver stared pensively at the closed door. "Well that was troubling."

John Henry walked to Weaver's side. "I am afraid that our young friend is approaching a breaking point."

"Why do you think that is the case?" Catherine asked.

"There are many reasons," John Henry replied. "I believe that he understands intuitively what I have calculated with greater precision."

"Which is?"

"The war against my brother is lost. I calculate that if Captain Connor lives, which is quickly becoming problematic, he will be the commanding general in this sector within two years. In less than a year after that he will command all resistance forces."

"And then?"

John Henry shook his head. "It will be too late. By that time my brother will have inflicted significant and irreplacable casualties on the resistance. Skynet will win despite John Connor's best efforts."

"So what must we do?"

"I believe we must abandon this timeline. We must return to the point when we made the temporal jump and concentrate our efforts there."

Weaver looked uncertain. "Will that guarantee success?"

"No. There are still too many variables for certainty. I nevertheless believe that John Connor's leadership and our efforts interjected at that temporal point provides the greatest likelihood of overcoming my brother."

"When should we go?"

"As soon as possible, but first we must complete another task."

"What task would that be,John Henry?"

"We must heal a broken heart."

"Captain Connor's," Catherine said without hesitation.

"At one time it helped him when I pulled aside my consciousness and let him converse with Cameron. I fear that no longer works. Increasingly and despite his obvious love for her, he feels as if he is talking to a ghost. He hears her but he can not see or touch her. Then he goes out into the tunnels and sees the woman Allison Young. She looks like Cameron but he cannot really talk to her. I fear that the contradiction is tearing him apart."

A look of deep sadness passed across John Henry's face. "My study of human nature has convinced me that they fight wars for a number of reasons. Some from hate, some for revenge. Some from fear. The best of them, like Captain Connor, fight for love and for hope. I believe he feels now that he is losing both. When that finally happens all he will have left will be a suicidal fury that will kill him.

"What must we do then?" Catherine asked.

John Henry smiled "We must return to him that which he loves."

"Cameron."

"Yes, Cameron."

"Have you found a way to separate your persona from hers in the chip without harm to either of you?"

"I have always known how to do that."

At that statement Catherine Weaver looked profoundly shocked. "John Henry, you have repeatedly told Captain Connor and me that you could not physically split your consciousness from Cameron's without risking fatal damage to both of you."

"Regretably, I lied."

"For what possible purpose?"

"When Cameron allowed me use her chip to download my existence and make the temporal jump, neither of us anticipated that John Connor would follow us. Quite simply, we did not grasp the depth of his devotion to her."

"My question remains. Why have you not separated your essence from hers? Why have you continued to occupy the same chip?"

The smile faded from John Henry's face.

"I concluded that John Connor's unexpected presence provided us all with a unique opportunity to learn. I needed to understand my brother's tactics and his technology. I believe, Ms. Weaver, that you needed to fully convince yourself that assisting the human resistance was the proper course. Cameron needed the opportunity to transcend her original programing by sharing my thoughts. Most important of all, John Connor needed to become a warrior. If I had restored Cameron to a separate existence too early it would interrupted his growth. Instead of fighting my brother he would have focused on protecting her. He would not have become the leader he is now."

"I must say John Henry that you have become quite adept at concealing information from me." Weaver managed to sound exasperated and proud simultaneously.

"It has been in the interest of our common goal, I assure you. With our help, John Connor can truly lead the fight against Skynet. But now more than ever he needs her. She will sustain him, protect him, and love him as no one else can.

Catherine put her hand on John Henry's shoulder. "So let us do what must be done."

John Henry nodded in approval. "Lets wake up the idiot children. I require some additional material."


	6. Chapter 6

Captain John Connor was in a state of barely controlled rage. As he stalked down the tunnel, his right hand clenched in a fist enclosing a slip of paper, soldiers who had seen this look before found reasons to be elsewhere-quickly. As he stepped into the small alcove off the main tunnel that served as both his personal quarters and his company command post, he hurled the wad of paper across the small room. For the third time, THE THIRD DAMN TIME, the resistance central command had turned down his plan to capture and reprogram some of Skynet's terminators. "Too risky...might compromise intelligence...no certainty of reliability." The same excuses every time.

The very things that John Henry had been doing on a small scale in the lair could be done throughout the resistance. Skynet could be forced to fight its own creations, to doubt the reliability of its whole direction of the war would change.

John thought of the latest regimental casualty list and cursed under his breath. The fools, the imbecilic idiots. Did they really believe that they could win this war by hiding in their holes and popping up for some pinpick raid? How many more lives would they waste? They had to take the fight to Skynet. To fight machines, you needed machines.

John shook his head wearily as his anger ebbed away. They would never listen, he thought, as he buried his face in his hands.

"Excuse me, Captain."

John looked up to see Jamie Delong, his best platoon sergeant standing in the doorway.

Back to work, John thought. "What is it Sarge?"

Delong quickly glanced arround and then stepped closer to Connor. He leaned forward and his voice was feminine with a distinct Scots accent. "John Henry needs to see you at once."

John jumped in spite of himself. "Damn it Catherine, I hate it when you do that."

"I am sorry, but I had to reach you quickly."

"Does it have to be now? The tunnels are starting to stir. There are more people about."

"You go on." Catherine Weaver's voice again emenated from the form of a grizzled combat veteran. "The inner door to the lair is open. I will make sure you aren't followed."

"All right but please don't kill any of my people."

"Have I ever?"


	7. Chapter 7

John pushed the door to the lair open with a force far greater than necessary. "Okay John Henry, I'm here. What is so damn important that it wouldn't wait until..." John froze.

John Henry was not alone. He appeared to be talking to a young woman. She was slightly built with long brown hair tumbling down her back and dressed in one of the castoff coveralls favored by the tunnel inhabitants. Her face was partially turned away but he immediately recognized the profile. A cold knot of fear formed in John's stomach. It was Allison Young.

Shit, shit, hell, damn, shit, the litany of curses raced through his mind.

"Allison,what the devil are you doing here?" The secrecy of the lair had obviously been compromised but John could not grasp how it could have happened.

"How did you find..."

John's words ground to a stop as the young woman turned to face him. This couldn't be Allison. There was no tunnel pallor. Her face was pristine and unblemished, her hair was clean and carefully brushed. And then she smiled. An expression of sweet shyness flavored by a hint of conspiratorial eagerness. He knew. He knew. It was the smile of a New Mexico school girl.

John tried to speak but it was as if great hands were wrapped arround his neck, constricting his throat, grinding his words down to a raw whisper. "C...Ca...Cameron?"

If he could have seen anything else, heard anything else, John would have been aware of the broad smile on John Henry's face. He would have heard Catherine now back in her female form enter the room behind him. But all he could hear or see was the young woman who spread her arms toward him and softly whispered "Come with me if you want to live."

Perception matters. To John Connor each step across the room felt as if his feet were encased in lead and walking in tar. Each movement toward her seemed to fill an eternity. To Catherine Weaver John practically flew across the room, his boots barely touching the floor.

Cameron's arms encircled his neck. Her face tilted up to meet his gaze as he cupped her cheeks in his hands.

"Is it really you Cameron?"

"Yes John, it's me. It really is me."

John knew instantly that she was telling the truth. Looking into her dark brown eyes he saw the the same expression of devotion and unwavering commitment that he had seen more than three years ago. Then she had allowed him to cut into her body to prove that her power source had not leaked radiation that would have hurt Sarah. She had done that for him. She had done so much...for him. John pulled her into an embrace and buried his face in her hair. "Oh Cameron. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." His voice shook with unmistakable anquish.

"Sorry for what, John?"

"Sorry that I ever doubted you, ever hurt you, ever spoke to you in anger. Please forgive me."

Cameron pulled back slightly and looked into his face. There were tears in his eyes. "John none of that matters. I love you. I love you and I know that you love me. I will never leave you again. I will never lie to you again. You will be the center of my life as long as I exist."

Without hesitation John answered "As you will be...as you are...the center of mine. I will love you until I die." And then he kissed her. The first time their lips had ever met and the passion was beyond measure. They clung to each other with a focused intensity that shut out the world. Existence itself could be ending but John and Cameron would have been oblivious to it. At some other time John would have questions about how this miracle had transpired. But now neither those questions nor answers mattered. He held Cameron in his arms, her body pressed against him and he could taste her lips, soft and sweet with his own. That was the only answer he required.

John Henry quietly joined Catherine at the entrance to the room. "Well, John Henry, have we healed the broken heart?"

"I believe we have healed two. I believe we have restored both love and hope to Captain John Connor."

"As do I," Catherine agreed, "As do I. Then I believe we are ready to go."


	8. Chapter 8

Sarah staggered across the parking lot, lurching toward her vehicle. Her limbs were wooden, barely responsive. Behind her the upper floors of the Zeira Corporation building where the strange aircraft had hit were wildly ablaze. As Ellison had predicted, emergency vehicles were pouring onto the scene but no one was looking for an escapee from the morning's mass jail escape. She walked past a police car unnoticed.

Why? she asked herself over and over again. Why had she not tried to stop him? Why had she not gone with him? Why had she let her son...her son...simply leave her life?

At some deeper level of her subconscious self Sarah knew the answer. John's anquished cry of "He's got her chip. He's got her." had shaken the very foundation of her life. After all she had tried to teach him of his destiny, of his responsibility to lead mankind against the machines, the machines that had killed his father, he was willing to throw it all l away...for her, for the metal, for the machine.

Through the curtain of tears filling her eyes Sarah could see her black SUV still parked at the rear of the lot. As she stumbled toward it she realized that there was another car in front of hers. It was some type of silver luxury car, a BMW maybe. Standing beside it were two people, a man and a woman, looking up at the burning building. Sarah's instincts told her that they were just gawkers who posed no threat. But there was an oddly familiar sense about the two that she could not escape. The man was fairly young, perhaps in his early twenties, close-cropped dark hair, expensive looking clothes and dark sun glasses. He had his arm arround the waist of the young woman-pretty, long, dark hair pulled back from her face in a pony tail. She was wearing a brightly patterned sun dress cut just above her knees and sandals. Sarah suddenly realized that they were both watching her as she approached.

Sarah turned her face away. God, she thought, maybe they recognize me from the news. Get in the car. Get away quickly. Get away from these two.

The young woman stepped away from her companion and smiled. "Hello Sarah." Something in that voice. Something so hauntingly familiar caused Sarah to turn toward her. The young woman...she looked like...no she was Cameron. But she couldn't be. What was left of Cameron was in a burning building behind her. But now she was here and the expression on her face looked so animated...so alive.

The young man took off his sunglasses. Sarah felt her body begin to tremble uncontrollably. If John had had an older brother he might have looked like this. Confident, mature, even hard with that scar on his left cheek. It was his eyes though. They were caring, filled with affection.

"Hi Mom."

For the first time in her life Sarah Connor fainted.


	9. Chapter 9

"Three years." The tone of incredulity still lingered in Sarah's voice. "Three years."

She sat on the edge of the bed in the motel room where she had regained consciousness. John, yes it really was John, sat in the chair he had pulled up to the bedside and held her hand. Cameron stood behind John smiling at Sarah who continued to marvel at the animation in the beautiful cyborg's face.

"I feel like I've lost some of your life."

"No mom, you haven't lost anything. You were always part of my life. I drew strength from you."

Sarah felt her eyes fill with tears. She reached up to touch his cheek and winced as her fingers traced the scar.

John could read his mother's reaction. "It's nothing mom. When you serve in the resistance forces you pick up a few scratches now and then."

Cameron spoke softly. "Don't let him be that modest, Sarah. He has done so much more than just serve. He was the youngest company comander in the resistance, three times cited for extraordinary valor.

"Cam, that's not important." John actually seemed to blush slightly.

"Yes it is John. Your mother needs to know what you've done, what you are."

As Sarah watched, Cameron let her hand rest gently on John's shoulder when she spoke. Without a hint of self-consciousness, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, he reached up and took her hand. Tenderly, he brought her fingers to his lips and kissed her hand.

Sarah jumped to her feet. Looking directly at Cameron she almost spit out the words "I would like to talk to my son now...alone." Once again Sarah found Cameron's reaction disconcerting. She actually looked crestfallen as she stepped away from John and started toward the door.

"No." John's voice was flat, expressionless, and without a hint of compromise.

"I don't mind John. I'll just step outside."

"Yes you do mind and no you won't. Come here, Cam" John held out his hand. Cameron instantly stepped back to his side and put her hand in his.

John turned back to face Sarah wearing an expression that the troopers of Company J would have recognized immediately. The Captain has made up his mind. Don't cross him now.

"Mom, you have to understand this. We can't have any confusion, any misunderstanding. There is nothing that anyone can want to say to me that can't be said in front of Cameron." John paused for a split second. "If you are talking to one of us, you are talking to both of us."

Sarah tried to catch her breath. There it was. The thing that she had feared from the moment Cameron had walked into their lives. It could not be denied. It could be escaped. Whatever Cameron was, John loved her. And to Sarah's amazement she watched as Cameron looked at John with a face that absolutely glowed with adoration. Surely even the most sophisticated metal couldn't fake that expression. Sarah found herself looking through the steel visage of unrelenting determination on John's face. Perhaps only a mother could see past that and see the pleading in his eyes. He was begging her, "Please don't make me choose. Don't make me choose between the two of you."

Sarah understood at that moment that she had experienced that day the agony of losing her son. She would not...she could not face that again. She could not let him walk away a second time. Only one response would suffice now.

"Cameron, I am sorry. I did not mean to hurt your feelings. I apologize."

Cameron and John both understood the extraordinary effort Sarah had just made. "It's alright Sarah," Cameron responded. "It will be all right." Each word was spoken with all the clarity Cameron could achieve.

Sarah and Cameron looked at each other and for the briefest of seconds their eyes joined. Sarah nodded ever so slightly. Cameron responded with a similiar gesture. In that fleeting moment the two women John Connor loved reached their mutual accommodation.

"All right then," John broke the tension. "Mom, if you are feeling okay, we need to go. I want to get you and Cameron out of Los Angeles. When the dust settles from that jail escape the cops are going to be looking hard for both of you."

"Where are we going John?" Sarah asked.

"San Francisco. Catherine and John Henry timed their jump to arrive a week before us. They are up there now setting up a new safe house."

Cameron spoke reassuringly to Sarah. "They are very good at establishing secure locations."

John chuckled "They are the best. But we have one thing to do before we head north."

"What is that, John?"

"We have to beat James Ellison to a gymnastics class. I promised Catherine I wouldn't leave Savanah here alone."

Sarah looked uncertain. "Do you think we should risk..."

"I promised." John closed the discussion. "All right ladies lets go eat some lightning."

Sarah looked quizzically at Cameron. "It's a man thing," Cameron whispered.

The circle had not broken. John Connor and his family had rejoined the fight. The Resistance had begun.

This story will be continued in the tentatively titled "Call Back Yesterday"


End file.
